


Self-Fulfilling Prophecy

by Nevanna



Category: Agent Carter (TV)
Genre: F/M, Gen, Series Spoilers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-04-17
Updated: 2015-04-17
Packaged: 2018-03-23 09:48:02
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 345
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3763555
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Nevanna/pseuds/Nevanna
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A voice from the past causes Howard to question - yet again - whether he's capable of bringing good into the world.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Self-Fulfilling Prophecy

When Maria hands him their infant son for the first time, Howard knows that he should feel proud, or hopeful, or relieved, that now someone will be around to carry on the Stark name and everything that goes with it. All he feels, instead, is fear.

A hand falls on his shoulder. “You are right to be afraid.” The voice in his ear carries a strong Russian accent, and the kindly, confidential tone of a man imparting difficult but necessary advice. “You think that you have created something good, that you can balance the scales, as they say. We both know that all you have brought about, all you will ever bring about, is destruction.”

Howard shakes his head. “You think that I’m listening to you?”

“I think,” Dr. Fennhoff says, sounding amused, “that you will _always_ listen to me, whether you know it or not.”

The smoke sears Howard’s eyes and tears at his throat, and the world around him wavers as the first coughing fit wracks his body. He knows that he’s breathing the same gas that turned soldiers and civilians alike into savage murderers, and that he has to let go of his child and get as far away as possible before…

He shudders awake, gasping and clutching at empty air. Maria lies facing the opposite wall, curled around the mound of her belly. She’s already started talking about what they’ll name the baby when it arrives.

She stirs when Howard reaches for the bedside lamp, and he leans over to smooth her hair. “Everything’s all right,” he whispers, because there’s a lot that he’s never told her, and doesn’t plan to. At least, this time, she didn’t ask.

At least, this time, he woke up before he was faced with what his inventions had done.

He slides out from under the sheets and fumbles into his clothes. He’s not sure whether his destination is the workshop or the liquor cabinet, but he knows that he’ll need the contents of one or both to see him through the rest of the night.


End file.
